1   They were now nearing Jerusalem; and when they reached Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, 2   Jesus sent two disciples with these instructions: ‘Go to the village opposite, where you will at once find a donkey tethered with her foal beside her; untie them, and bring them to me. 3   If anyone speaks to you, say, “Our Master needs them”; and he will let you take them at once.’ ^note 4   This was to fulfil the prophecy which says, 5   ‘Tell the daughter of Zion, “Here is your king, who comes to you in gentleness, riding on an ass, riding on the foal of a beast of burden.”’

6    7   The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed, and brought the donkey and her foal; they laid their cloaks on them and Jesus mounted. 8   Crowds of people carpeted the road with their cloaks, and some cut branches from the trees to spread in his path. 9   Then the crowd that went ahead and the others that came behind raised the shout: ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the heavens!’

10   When he entered Jerusalem the whole city went wild with excitement. 11   ‘Who is this?’ people asked, and the crowd replied, ‘This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.’

12   Jesus then went into the temple and drove out all who were buying and selling in the temple precincts; he upset the tables of the money-changers and the seats of the dealers in pigeons; 13   and said to them, ‘Scripture says, “My house shall be called a house of prayer”; but you are making it a robbers' cave.’

14   In the temple blind men and cripples came to him, and he healed them. 15   The chief priests and doctors of the law saw the wonderful things he did, and heard the boys in the temple shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’, 16   and they asked him indignantly, ‘Do you hear what they are saying?’ Jesus answered, ‘I do; have you never read that text, “Thou hast made children and babes at the breast sound aloud thy praise”?’ 17   Then he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

18    19   Next morning on his way to the city he felt hungry; and seeing a fig-tree at the roadside he went up to it, but found nothing on it but leaves. He said to the tree, ‘You shall never bear fruit any more!’;

Challenge to Jerusalem and the tree withered away at once. 20   The disciples were amazed at the sight. ‘How is it’, they asked, ‘that the tree has withered so suddenly?’ 21   Jesus answered them, ‘I tell you this: if only you have faith and have no doubts, you will do what has been done to the fig-tree; and more than that, you need only say to this mountain, “Be lifted from your place and hurled into the sea”, and what you say will be done. 22   And whatever you pray for in faith you will receive.’

23   He entered the temple, and the chief priests and elders of the nation came to him with the question: ‘By what authority are you acting like this? 24   Who gave you this authority?’ Jesus replied, ‘I have a question to ask you too; answer it, and I will tell you by what authority I act. 25   The baptism of John: was it from God, or from men?’ This set them arguing among themselves: ‘If we say, “from God”, he will say, “Then why did you not believe him?” 26   But if we say, “from men”, we are afraid of the people, for they all take John for a prophet.’ 27   So they answered, ‘We do not know.’ And Jesus said: ‘Then neither will I tell you by what authority I act.

28   ‘But what do you think about this? A man had two sons. He went to the first, and said, “My boy, go and work today in the vineyard.” 29    30   “I will, sir”, the boy replied; but he never went. The father came to the second and said the same. “I will not”, he replied, but afterwards he changed his mind and went. 31   Which of these two did as his father wished?’ ‘The second’, they said. Then Jesus answered, ‘I tell you this: tax-gatherers and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32   For when John came to show you the right way to live, you did not believe him, but the tax-gatherers and prostitutes did; and even when you had seen that, you did not change your minds and believe him.

33   ‘Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard: he put a wall round it, hewed out a winepress, and built a watch-tower; then he let it out to vine-growers and went abroad. 34   When the vintage season approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect the produce due to him. 35   But they took his servants and thrashed one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36   Again, he sent other servants, this time a larger number; and they did the same to them. 37   At last he sent to them his son. “They will respect my son”, he said. 38   But when they saw the son the tenants said to one another, “This is the heir; come on, let us kill him, and get his

Challenge to Jerusalem inheritance.” 39   And they took him, flung him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40   When the owner of the vineyard comes, how do you think he will deal with those tenants?’ 41   ‘He will bring those bad men to a bad end’, they answered, ‘and hand the vineyard over to other tenants, who will let him have his share of the crop when the season comes.’ 42   Then Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the main corner-stone. This is the Lord's doing, and it is wonderful in our eyes”? 43   Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to a nation that yields the proper fruit.’ ^note

45   When the chief priests and Pharisees heard his parables, they saw that he was referring to them; 46   they wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the people, who looked on Jesus as a prophet.

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